Baker University student helps man escape burning duplex

Half a duplex at 204 Crimson Ave. in Baldwin City was damaged Monday night in a fire. There, Baldwin City resident Brandon Keller saw the flames and helped pull a resident from the burning home.

Brandon Keller and his mother drove to Baldwin City’s Kwik Shop, 522 Ames St., Monday night to grab a drink and rent a movie. That’s when they smelled something burning.

Considering it was Memorial Day, Keller said he figured somebody was burning something, perhaps leaves. But as they left the shop and headed north on North Sixth Street, the pair quickly located the source of the smell.

“We saw flames coming from the back of this house,” he said. “So right when we saw it we turned into the hardware store’s parking lot, came up to the house, and my mom called 911.”

Around that same time another man who was apparently familiar with the home, told Keller, 20, that an older man lived inside the home and that he might still be inside.

In fact, the home was a duplex at 204 Crimson Ave., said Baldwin City Fire Chief Terry Baker. The fire broke out in one half of the building sometime before 8:20 p.m., he said.

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Half a duplex at 204 Crimson Ave. in Baldwin City was damaged Monday night in a fire. There, Baldwin City resident Brandon Keller saw the flames and helped pull a resident from the burning home.

Apparently the duplex had been on fire for some time before emergency responders were called, Baker said.

“This was one of those cases where people were videoing it and nobody was calling 911,” he said.

Not even the man inside the home, whose name Keller wasn’t certain of, seemed to be aware that the duplex was on fire.

Baker said he believed the man to be in his 70s.

Once the fire broke out it didn’t take long for it to spread, Baker said. Once they were called emergency responders were on the scene in less than four minutes. By then the entire back deck was engulfed in flames and the fire had worked its way into the roof.

At the front side of the duplex, Keller said he and the other man yelled inside, but they weren’t sure if anyone could hear them.

“But we could hear him inside yelling for his dog, so that’s when we decided to go in,” he said. “I kicked in the door and he was on his way out.”

Keller said he and the other man grabbed the home’s occupant and walked him out to safety.

Baker said the home’s occupant, his dog and everybody else escaped the flames uninjured. Half of the duplex was severely damaged by the fire; the other half had some water damage, he said.

The cause of the fire was not suspicious, Baker said.

Keller insisted that he wasn’t a hero, but by all accounts, Baker said, Keller absolutely helped save a life Monday night.

Currently Keller is studying criminal justice at Baker University and just finished his junior year. Monday night’s fire has led to a new interest, he said.

Beginning June 5, he’ll be volunteering as a firefighter in Baldwin City.

“I never really thought about being a volunteer firefighter, but then last night I saw everyone coming together to help a man out so I thought, why not?” he said.